After More Than 10 Years in 195 Square Feet, This Paris Renter Has Perfected Small-Space Living
A woman of many interests, freelance translator Alba Pagán is enthusiastic for books and culture. Impressively, she didn’t just manage to squeeze herself, a part-time dog roomie, all of her passions, and a ton of books into just 195 square feet — she’s made it work for more than a decade.
Can't-Miss House Tours Straight to Your Inbox
Keep up with our latest house tours each weekday with our House Tour of the Day newsletter
You read that correctly. When we first toured Alba’s tiny studio apartment, she had been living in just 195 square feet for ten years. While living small has its challenges, for Alba, the benefits have far outweighed the drawbacks.
Located in Paris’ Montmartre neighborhood, the studio boasts an enviable location, but it wasn’t just the address that won Alba over. “The calm and the light, and being able to live alone,” were among the things she cited as her favorite aspects of the apartment when we first published her home tour.
“I found this place by chance after having lived in Paris for eight months, in two different apartments,” wrote Alba Pagán at the time of her house tour’s first publication. “A friend of my boss was returning to Argentina for the summer, and I was going to sublet for a couple of months, and she finally decided to leave Paris, so I got to rent it.”
“Even though it’s a small space, I love it when I can invite some friends and listen to music, smoke cigarettes and talk for hours, and I used to love sitting in front of the window during COVID to read and feel the sun in my skin.”
Alba said when she moved in there was a lot of black furniture that felt way too heavy for the small space. So she worked on replacing the darker furniture with some lighter-looking options.
She also worked to find storage space in the home, like how she “managed to create a storage space for the kitchen in the cupboard next to the entry door.” And yes, she does have to fold her bed up every morning, but it works for her.
Over the past decade, the apartment has evolved alongside Alba. Furniture and belongings have come and gone, the bathroom got a pink paint makeover after COVID, and the apartment has continually shifted to meet her changing needs. While there will likely always be small projects on her wish list, she told Apartment Therapy that she’s happy with how it looks today.
“I like that everything in it now was chosen by me and that I got to make the space look like this by making tiny changes that adapted exactly to my needs, so in a way it feels very organic and related to my life,” she wrote.
“I love the coziness of it, and the contrast between being inside and going outside to such a beautiful and nice neighborhood, always full of people and tourists,” she wrote about her love of the small space. “I know the people I cross when I go get coffee or walk my dog. There are still very old places like bars and bookshops.”
This tour’s responses and photos were edited for length/size and clarity.
Share Your Style: House Tour & House Call Submission Form